Do you know the differences between: a crisp, a crumble, cobbler, a brown betty, a buckle and a pandowdy? Do you care?  You should. Fruit desserts are in! Crisp: uses oatmeal. Crumble: not oats, streusel top/butter, brown sugar, flour. Cobbler: biscuits or pie crust on top. Brown Betty: bread crumbs, in layers with fruit. Buckle: cake with fruit mixed in and streusel on top. Pandowdy? Topping is biscuit, puff pastry, pie crust or other. Trick is that it is broken half way through so fruit bubbles up. Who knew these things?   My favorite is the cobbler. Try the Chez Panisse cream biscuits.

There is a grainy texture to these delicious cookies.  For a time my husband was convinced that it was because they used whole wheat flour, wishful thinking on his part that he was eating something healthy.  I was convinced it was ground up coffee; they are coffee people. Both wrong: it’s a course salt and a course sugar. Mystery solved.

My husband drinks those Synergy/Kombucha drinks. I have never been a fan but I was introduced to this new probiotic drink at a meeting recently.  KeVita is made by by Bill Moses, wine maker in Ojai. He wanted to create the next generation of soft drinks.  I think he did it!

Every year I write cookbooks for my children.  Last year’s book was called Find the Time and I dedicated it to my friends who are mothers in the hopes that they will always find the time to cook and eat with their children.  This series of blogs is mostly food related with a sprinkle of reflections on life.

Reading about Bruce Lee. He died at 32. So young. Born in SF. He studied philsophy at Univeristy of WA. He started his first kung fu school in Oakland. He had two children. He said of his wife: we are two halfs of the same whole. 

I discovered that we have the same philosophy about luck. He said: You have to create your own luck. You have to be aware of opporutnities around you and take advantage of them.

I love the notion of washoku.  “Washoku is an integrated approach to achieving nutritional balance and aesthetic harmony at table; both a culinary philosophy and a set of practical guidelines for preparing food.”

Need to find the time to make these with your children!